How to Spy on the Avatar
by Lariren-Shadow
Summary: On a visit to Republic City Katara talks Zuko into spying on Korra and Mako while they're on a date. Makorra, Old!Zutara


**A/N**: Awhile ago I was talking with a few people and somehow Old!Zutara spying on a Makorra date came up. Thus this fic. Continuity with what we know about season 2? Nope. So pretending the last time Korra was in the South Pole was the end of season 1. It just works better.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own.

* * *

"You didn't have to personally come get me," Katara complained half-heartedly for what Zuko thought was the fiftieth time (it was really only the fourteenth). They were standing watching Republic City come into view as the ship entered Yue Bay.

"I wanted to and what else am I going to do? Korra is finding her own way of promoting peace in Republic City and the world seems to be following her. The last time I went home the kids kept asking if I wanted to go to Ember Island and Honora actually shooed me out of my office-" Katara shoot him a look he knew well. "Fine her office. It's like they don't want me there," he pouted.

Katara wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him close. "I'm sure they just want you to be happy and they think you'll be happy living on Ember Island. Kids tend to think they know what's best for us."

Zuko grumbled and she kissed his cheek. Zuko returned the favor. They weren't really boyfriend and girlfriend; Zuko always complained they were way too old for such juvenile titles. They missed their spouses but found companionship in one another. Intimate friends was the best title either of them could come up with.

"Speaking of kids does Tenzin know we're coming?" Zuko asked.

"Of course he does. He knows I don't miss my grandchild's first birthday," she smiled. "If he's a bender his bending will begin to show."

"I remember when we found out Lee's a firebender. He set his sister's dress on fire." Zuko also remembered sitting his daughter down and explaining her little brother didn't mean it and please don't hold it against him and just get along. His children did have a much better relationship than he and Azula ever did, but that didn't stop him from pleading and lecturing them about it.

"Kya froze her bath water and Tenzin knocked Bumi and Kya over with a sneeze."

"My lord," Zuko reflexively turned at the title, even if it really wasn't his anymore. "Your boat is ready. We'll be mooring soon." The First Mate told him.

"Good, usual orders then. Make sure everyone leaves the ship for a little while at least."

"Aye aye sir," the officer replied.

"Ready to go?" He asked Katara, offering her his arm.

She smirked as she took his arm. "Being a gentleman now?"

He winked. "If you like I have some rope on the boat and I can tie you to a tree."

"I'll freeze you to the rocks first."

He let out an annoyed noise. "I'm too old for the cold."

"You're still a cranky teenager at heart."

"I'm old, I'm allowed." He held her arm as she stepped onto the smaller boat. Their ride to Air Temple Island was smooth. As they neared the dock Zuko noted the crowd gathered to greet them. Tenzin and Pema, along with their four children (Rohan trying his best to wiggle out of his mother's arms), Korra (who was much bigger than the eight year old he remembered), and two other boys. He assumed these were the brothers Iroh and Katara told him about. He noted the taller one's hand resting of Korra's hip.

"Korra has a boyfriend?" He asked.

"I guess she does. I know she writes about him a lot but she never said they were dating. The last time she was in the South Pole they seemed close but I didn't think they were that close." The boat docked and Tenzin helped Katara disembark.

"Always good to see you Mother," he said kissing her cheek. Tenzin bowed, "Uncle Zuko," he said before straightening. Zuko returned the bow.

"Rohan say hello to your Gran-Gran," Pema urged as she took one of Rohan's hands and waved. Rohan gurgled before lunging out of Pema's arms. Katara grabbed her grandson, laughing.

"He recently started walking, didn't he?" She asked her daughter-in-law.

Pema nodded. "Only Ikki ever did the same thing. Jinora and Meelo were happy to stay in my arms."

"Tenzin was the same way."

"Mother," Tenzin sighed. Zuko kept quiet. Tenzin always hated it when Katara talked about his childhood.

Korra rushed forward and hugged Katara, careful not to squish Rohan. "Master Katara I'm so happy you're here!"

Katara hugged Korra tightly. "Just call me Katara. I've missed you too."

Korra pulled back a little and nodded. Zuko formally bowed to her. "Avatar Korra."

He watched her smirk a little and mimicked his action. "Fire Lord Zuko."

"You drop my title and I'll drop yours."

She smiled. "Deal. This is Bolin," she gestured to the shorter of the two. "And this is my boyfriend, Mako." They both fidgeted as Korra wrapped her arm around Mako's waist.

Zuko looked at Katara who had what he had dubbed her mama turtleduck face. Zuko tried not to laugh as he watched Mako picked up on the threat. The boy moved a little closer to Korra and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You two are dating?" Katara asked as Rohan began to pull on one of her hair loopies.

"Yup since we got back to Republic City," Korra said happily.

"Oh."

"Gran-gran want me to tell you the story of how they met?" Ikki asked hopefully.

Katara smiled down at her youngest granddaughter. "I'd love to hear the story."

Zuko half listened as Ikki eagerly told the story as the group made their way to the Temple proper. He assumed only half of it was true because there was no way a love potion was involved. Tenzin pried his children away from Zuko and Katara telling them they'd spend enough time with them later and maybe they wanted to settle in before dinner (they didn't share a room but their rooms were right next to each other).

The dinner itself was the most amusing and awkward thing Zuko had ever seen. He'd stayed out of most of the conversation, enjoying the squirming of Mako and Korra and how much more like a mama turtleduck Katara began to look like with every word the pair said. Every so often Jinora or Bolin would ask him a question about the early days of Republic City (Bolin happened to have read almost every history of Republic City book he could find at the library when he and Mako stayed there for warmth). If either Mako or Korra were paying attention they'd jump on the question as well, anything to get Katara to stop asking them questions.

Now an angry Katara pacing the length of his room while he sat and watched her disrupted his soothing evening tea.

"She's told me everything since she came to live in the compound. Her mother trusted me to take care of her and now look! She's seeing a boy that I don't know anything about-"

"Didn't you talk to him about the South Pole?" She pinned him with a glare that had him wondering if she was going to ask him to reconquer Ba Sing Se. "I'm sure this is entirely different."

"I wonder if she's even told her mother. Senna would have said something to me, right?"

Zuko nodded. Watching her was getting tiring and he was also beginning to tune her out while still nodding and making appropriate listening noises. Instead he turned to look out his window only to see Korra sail into a room across the way through a window. The boy that embraced her confirmed she was sneaking into Mako's room. He chuckled remembering the few times he did that with Mai.

"What's so funny about me not hearing from any of my children regularly and losing the trust of Korra?" Katara growled.

"Nothing, nothing at all. You hear from your children all the time," she opened her mouth to protest as he added, "you hear from Kya at least twice a week and Bumi sometimes more than that if he's on land. Tenzin's the only one who seems to have an aversion to talking to you and even then it's once a week-"

"How did Mai put up with you?"

"She threw knives at me," Katara snorted. Zuko took a sip of his tea. "While we're on the subject of couples you should know Korra snuck into Mako's room," Katara's mouth dropped open. "You can see into his room from here."

Katara rushed over to see for herself. Sure enough there they were in an intimate embrace. Both watched as Korra backed away and pushed Mako down, quickly following him out of sight. "Zuko?"

"Yes Katara?" He sipped his tea again.

"Have you been practicing your stealth skills recently?" He spit out his tea.

"We are not spying on them."

"They have a date tomorrow night. They're going to dinner and then a walk in the park."

"How did you-never mind my guess is you got it out of them while I was answering other questions. I'm still not spying on them. They're young; let them have their fun. Besides we can go out on our own."

"You're going to tell me you never, ever, spied on a date of any of your children?" Katara asked sweetly.

"Well-I-you see-Honora was really young-THIS IS DIFFERENT!" Zuko stuttered. "Besides it was only one time."

"Really? How did you get through all the other dates?"

"I calmed down." Katara raised her eyebrow as she eyed him. "Fine I got the boys to do it." Katara smiled like a pigmy puma. "Katara I know that smile. I don't like that smile; it means I'm going to be spending my night following two love addled teenagers."

"You don't have to come with me. I can go alone. I can also tell Honora what her father had her brothers do."

Zuko pouted. Katara leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Fine we'll follow them tomorrow but we're going to do this my way. First we're going to have to go shopping for clothes so we can blend in as well as hats. Then we check where they're going and find remote spots to watch them." Katara smiled again. "It's not like you never spied on any of your children."

"Kya yes, Bumi no, and Tenzin I did with the help of Toph. She wanted to make sure he treated Lin nicely."

"And you went because?"

"I wanted to see how protective Toph could get and to make sure Lin treated Tenzin nicely."

* * *

At breakfast Zuko noted that Mako pulled his scarf a little tighter around his neck and generally avoided Katara's eyes. Katara just smiled at him and Korra. She happily told Tenzin that she and Zuko were going to spend the day in the City. Pema asked if she wanted to take the kids but Katara declined saying she had something special planned for them the next day with Zuko. Zuko mentally sighed as he watched Jinora's face light up. He'd be answering questions about Aang and his past all day.

After a long ("Zuko does this make me look fat?" "Do you have this in blue?" "Zuko this is much too expensive." "I am the wife of Avatar Aang and if I want blue you will give it to me, his face is on the yuans you're getting." "Don't you sass me young lady.") day of shopping ("I really want the hat to really cover the scar." "Are you sure this is supposed to be this tight?" "I am good looking for an older gentleman aren't I?" "Usually I say people can call me Zuko; you can call me Sifu Hotman.") they both donned their new outfits to go in search of the restaurant the young couple had mentioned.

"You lived here most of your life, how can you not know where this place is? It's known for its Southern Water Tribe food!" Zuko complained ask they circled the block yet again.

"Mine is better and you know it," she said curtly as she scanned the signs. "Why don't you ask where this is?"

"No," he growled. "I'm sure it's here somewhere; we just aren't looking hard enough." Katara rolled her eyes and muttered something about how he should be used to hunting the Avatar. Finally he (really she) found the place and they headed in. Zuko made sure to keep his head and hat down, there were perks and drawbacks to having a statue of yourself in the city.

"Seat yourself," the host told them. They immediately went to a table in the corner with the best view of the place. Mako and Korra weren't there yet but they were a little early. He quickly looked over the menu and picked what he thought looked the most appetizing (he'd never say it out loud but he didn't care much for Water Tribe food).

"Zuko they have stewed sea prunes! I bet they're not as good as mine, don't you agree?" Zuko knew it was a trick question. He'd dealt with them enough in his lifetime. However since he considered all stewed sea prunes to be under the heading of "things he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy" he had to be subtle with this.

"I'm sure yours are much much more appealing." There, not a real lie, but good.

"You'll taste them and tell me if mine are better?" She asked.

Zuko balked. He really, really didn't want to have to eat them. Katara was very protective of her sea prunes and he'd made the mistake years earlier of saying they were palatable. The resulting argument had left him with his clothes frozen to him (Katara's creativity really surprised him) and Aang coming to him later telling him if he valued the peace they had fought for then he should apologize to Katara. Otherwise there would be one pissed off waterbender who would end him. For the good of the world Zuko ate a big bowl of her sea prunes, declared them delicious and asked for seconds. She actually cried.

As he was trying to think of a good response to her question Mako and Korra walked in. He bent his head and watched them walk to the one of the few tables Katara couldn't see and they had a pretty good view of him.

"You have to tell me everything they do," Katara hissed as she put her menu down.

"Why don't you change seats with me then?" He offered.

"No Korra will recognize me but she might not recognize you." He almost laughed at that. Almost.

Before he could respond the waiter came over. They quickly ordered (Katara ordered the sea prunes and Zuko order five flavor soup with blubbered seal jerky for them to share and tea of course) while Zuko tried to discreetly watch the others and keep his head down.

There was a close call when Katara distracted him with reminiscing about a trip they took the Western Air Temple with the kids (Tenzin spent the entire time opening all the doors that needed airbending so Bumi, Lin, and Honora could go exploring while Kya created a sheet of ice for skating that Sokka managed to break his leg on) when Korra looked him right in the eye. He quickly looked down and was slightly saved by their food arriving.

After choking down a sea prune and truthfully saying Katara's were better Zuko began to lose interest in watching Korra and Mako. They were just eating and laughing and having fun. He'd let them have their fun.

Instead he focused on Katara and the sort of date they were on. He noticed Katara seemed to forget he was supposed to give her updates as well and instead teased him for complaining about how Water Tribe food was still bland. He almost missed when they stood up to leave.

"Head down Katara, they're leaving," he whispered as he bent his head further down.

"Who are leaving?" She asked as she bit into a piece of jerky.

"Korra and Mako."

"Oh Spirits! Why did you distract me? What were they doing?" She hissed.

"Uh I stopped watching awhile ago," she kicked him under the table. "Hey I'm an old man, you can't hit an old man!"

"It didn't stop me from facing Master Pakku and it won't stop me from doing anything to you." He glared as the young couple passed their table by, hopefully without noticing them. "Quick get the waiter over so we can pay and follow them."

"We've had the check for awhile now," he assured her as he pulled out more than enough yuans to cover the food and tip.

"Why didn't you say something?"

"We were having fun and I didn't want to stop," he offered in his best-hurt turtleduck voice. Katara's face softened.

"We are having fun. Come on let's go back to the Temple. You can take me on a real date tomorrow night."

"Oh and this wasn't real?" he teased as he stood and offered her his arm.

"It didn't start as a date so it doesn't count."

"You always were hard to please."

"No just set in my ways. I had to explain what a date should be to Aang and I'd be happy to give you the same explanation," she offered sweetly.

Instead of leaving the restaurant and quietly walking to the docks to catch the ferry to the Temple they were accosted by an angry Avatar.

"I knew it!" Korra screamed as she jumped in front on Zuko and Katara. Mako appeared beside her and tried to wrap his arm around her to calm her. "You were spying on me!"

"Korra I'm sure they have a perfectly reasonable explanation-" Mako began.

"You never said he was your boyfriend young lady," Katara interrupted. Zuko rolled his eyes. As he focused again on the couple his eyes met Mako's. Mako tilted his head towards Korra and raised his eyebrows. Zuko understood he was asking if this was a Southern Water Tribe thing. Zuko nodded. As Mako shook his head Zuko realized he had an ally in the boy.

Korra and Katara continued arguing and he just tuned them out until he heard his name. "Huh?"

"I can't believe you spied on your kids dating too," Korra grossed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Do both of you just not trust people?"

"Korra you know that isn't true," Katara said softly.

"Well you sure have a really weird way of showing it," the Avatar pouted.

Zuko knew when an apology was needed, especially when the Avatar was involved (and it was needed even more in this case because the Avatar was a Southern Water Tribe woman). "We're sorry for spying on your date. We actually stopped about halfway through and weren't going to follow you to the park."

Korra nodded. "Good."

"Come on Korra let's go before they decide to make us go back with them," Mako said as he tried to turn Korra in the direction they needed to go. Zuko quickly did the same as he saw the thought cross Katara's mind.

As he began to lead Katara towards the docks he turned around to take one last peak at the retreating couple. Mako looked back at the same time and winked. The boy would help him smooth things over in the morning.

* * *

Korra and Katara spent the next morning waterbending. Apparently they also discussed firebending boys. He didn't really care because Katara seemed appeased about Korra's love life and much more interested in other things. Like spending the day with her grandkids.

They spent the day with the kids telling them stories of their adventures and what it was like when they were first learning their bending. Zuko admitted to setting Azula's clothes on fire once. The kids laughed and Meelo said he always blows Jinora's books out of her hands.

That night they went to dinner at a little Fire Nation place Zuko had found years ago. He felt young again as he fed Katara bits of food and laughed at the faces she made when she found it too spicy or just right.

As they made their way down to the docks Zuko bent down to kiss Katara.

"I knew you two were dating!" Korra screamed as raced up to them.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose as Katara started disciplining Korra for spying and Korra shot back she learned it from her master. He was certain Aang and Sokka were laughing at him at that moment.

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